Wintertide
by Scroodle
Summary: A tale of two young wizards trying to recover from their past and find their way in life, joined by their friends and family they'll journey across Earthland discovering all kinds of exciting new adventures. You'll never know what to expect from this bizzare Fairy Tail.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Alright so this has been a long time in making. It's been a while but Noelle is finally back and she's better than before. I still can't believe that after all this time there are still people favoriting my old Fairy Tail stories and reviewing when I had all but abandoned Noelle. I will admit that the ending of Fairy Tail very much killed my love for the series for a long time, even now I still very much dislike the ending but as a writer, I can change the things I don't like. I won't let the bad ending sour my feelings for the characters that sparked my love for writing.

I've had a long hate-love relationship with Noelle and I think I've finally managed to make her in my image. There have been a few majors changes to her character such as her magic. Noelle is no longer a dragon slayer. I honestly got bored or the dragon slayer magic and wanted to make her magic more unique and original and I think I successfully have. Don't worry, our dear Marlow is still in the story...he's just a little different. I could never get rid of him as I love him very much, and I'm pretty sure The CocoQueen would kill me if I ever tried.

This story will have ocs in it and my own original arcs and missions added on. There will be the return of some old ocs and some new ones. It will be a slow burn as I don't want to rush the story or the romance and I want to take my time fixing Fairy Tail's disastrous ending. The main pairing of this story is, of course, NoellexGray and will have NaLu and some canon pairings and then some not.

Can't give away too much now, can I?

There's a lot I want to say and I could ramble on and on but instead, I'll simply say thank you, to all my Fairy Tail readers who have stuck around for this long hiatus, patiently waiting and supporting me. I went through a lot during the time I was writing Noelle's story and you all stuck by my side and offered me unconditional love and support and for that, I say thank you and I hope I can deliver Noelle in the way you remember her.

* * *

**Wintertide**

In a land far, far, away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small, peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards. Banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born. A guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future.

Its name... is Fairy Tail.

It was a semi-average day in the rambunctious guild that is known as Fairy Tail. You had resident drunk Cana seated on her stool at the bar, slurping down her twelfth barrel of beer of the last hour. Macao and Wakaba sat nearby playing a game of cards, and eyeing anything pretty that walked by in a skirt just a little too short. Loke was in a perpetual state of bliss with both his arms filled to the brim with pretty woman and even more at his feet.

What did they see in him? Well, no one had the answer to that question, unfortunately.

Then, there was Elfman, berating the smaller male members of the guild for not being manly enough while those standing nearby cheered him on.

The only thing that seemed to be out of place was the lack of Natsu and Gray's fighting. The salmon-haired boy had left earlier in the day on a personal mission when hearing rumors that his father had been spotted in Hargeon, leading Gray to find some other unfortunate victim to entertain him.

Or what is the other way around?

"Are you kidding me? I seriously lose again?!" Gray yelled looking down at his hand of cards and to the smug girl standing across from him. "I thought for sure that I had you that time..." The wizard grumbled, not too happy that he had yet again been bested in a game of cards.

Gray glared at the girl. A girl with porcelain pale skin and bright blue eyes. A mole rests under her left eye. The girl gave him a smirk, twirling a lock of medium-length wavy dark blue hair that fell to her neck, two braids framing the side of her face with bangs parted. She is small in structure, shorter than even Levy by an inch or so - what she lacks in height she makes up in curves.

She wears a dark blue wool coat with white fur trimming around the collar and sleeve cuffs. The coat has six light-colored symmetrical buttons on the chest and a brown belt fasted around the waist. A pair of white lace stockings go to her thighs and tuck into a pair of dark brown heeled boots with white fur. A white beret with blue lace and blue ribbon sat slanted on her head.

Her name is _**Noelle Yuletide.**_

Noelle grinned at the sulking mage.

"You're so easy to read. Do you want to play again? Rent is coming up soon and I could use the extra funds." Noelle asked, shuffling the deck with a raised brow.

Truly she wasn't even that great of a card player. Gray was just incredibly easy to read.

Gray clicked his tongue. "No way! Take your money, snowflake." He said, sliding her 5,000 jewels. He has just earned that money, too. "Shit, all that work for nothing. Hey Mirajane, get me a drink, will ya?" Gray glared at Noelle. _"Extra strong." _He added under his breath.

Noelle's nose scrunched at the choice of nickname. She's always hated when he called her that. Noelle held a hand up to Mirajane and shook her head. "I got it, Mirajane!" She called over the chaos. "Consider this one on the house, Fullbuster. I guess it isn't like you can pay, anyway." Noelle smirked and turned around, preparing a glass of one of their strongest liquors.

Normally Mirajane tended the bar by herself but today she was lucky to have an extra set of hands. Noelle would volunteer to help out behind the bar whenever she could to score some extra cash.

"Jeez, how kind of you." Gray scoffed. "Maybe you'll be generous enough to give me back my money."

"Now where would the fun in that be?" Noelle stuck her tongue out at him and slid him the glass of liquid amber. "Sorry, Gray. A deal is a deal." She bore a vicious smile and held up the deck of cards she had borrowed from Cana. "Unless you want to try your luck once more?"

"No way!" Gray yelled.

Noelle laughed watching Gray take his drink and go. Noelle hummed to herself as she began to prepare food and drinks for the other, non-violent and more honest members of the guild who only wished to eat in peace. A few of the drunken patrons of the bar tried striking up a conversation with her but she would excuse herself and focus on a different task, ignoring their cat-calling and sultry praise. She had just finished loading a tray with drinks when the doors to the guild were kicked in. Noelle let out a squeak of surprise as the tray she had been carrying clattered to the ground, shattering into pieces and making a mess of the floor.

Her icy cold glare set on a salmon-haired boy, followed by a little blue cat, a pretty curvaceous blonde-haired girl, and a tall boy, with dark blue hair who followed lazily behind them. The blue-haired boy sulked past Natsu who was too busy announcing his return to the guild, plopping down half-on and half-off a barstool and letting out a long, tired sigh.

"I need a drink. No, _a bottle._ The strongest we have, Nellie."

Noelle shot the blue-haired boy a smirk. He was fairly tall, standing a little over six feet with pale skin and an athletic figure and set of icy blue eyes. His hair was of medium length and wavy with unkept parts sticking up. A mole sat under his right eye partially intercepted by a long slash across his face.

He wears a fitted black muscle shirt with the sleeves cut off, baggy white pants tucked into black combat boots with white fur, and black fingerless gloves. Over his outfit, he wears a dark blue cape with white fur and silver trim. The cape has a hood and the Fairy Tail guild mark in silver on the back.

His name is _**Nicholai Yuletide**_, Noelle's older twin brother.

"That bad, huh?" Noelle snickered.

Noelle hurried to clean up the mess she had made and scurried back behind the bar. She looked over the choice of liquor and scanned the bottles with her fingers before settling on a glass bottle filled with a smooth burgundy liquid. She stood on her tip-toes to reach it, adding a little hop when she couldn't quite make it - shooting Nicholai a glare over her shoulder when he laughed at her - she grabbed the bottle from the shelf and slid it across the countertop into Nicholai's waiting hands.

Nicholai popped the cap and took a long, hard, swig.

"Natsu went all out in Hargeon. Made a complete mess and got the army involved." Nicholai grumbled scratching his stubble. "I imagine that the old man isn't going to be happy with the amount of damage we caused. Can't say I regret it though." Nicholai smirked.

"You say that until Master dishes out one of his special punishments again." Noelle giggled.

Nicholai visibly shivered and grumbled something under his breath, taking another hard drink. Noelle shot him a playful smile and was ready to go back to her work when she spotted a pair of soft, furry white ears sticking out of her brother's hood. She watched the wiggling set of ears with a narrowed gaze and hands on her hips.

"Oi, _Marlow!_ Did you sneak off again without me knowing?!" Noelle barked. "I told you I was working today and to stay home! It's impossible to do my job and make sure you're not causing trouble at the same time."

The fluffy ears perked up and ducked down before slowing rising again. The ears repeated the motion a few times before a soft, fluffy white head with a big snout, and big, beady blue eyes showed itself. A small white cub stared back at Noelle with a toothy grin. The little cub no bigger than the average housecat pawed itself out of Nicholai's hood, giving the male a few scratches along the way, seemingly taking glee in the way the male hissed and cursed his name.

The cub jumped onto the bar top with a bit of a struggle and gave Noelle a head cock and toothy grin.

"Staying in the apartment all day gets boring!" Marlow whined. "I wanna be where the action is! They destroyed the port in a big fiery explosion and that was _after_ it got flooded by this crazy mermaid lady, and then had to run away from the army screaming like little girls!"

Noelle cocked a brow at Marlow's wild paw gestures and looked to Nicholai to confirm whether the story was true or not. Marlow...was a big fan of anything reckless and violent and would often exaggerate his stories...but the sheepish look on Nicholai's face said all.

"You're both hopeless." She sighed. "Don't go sneaking off again. It worries me."

"I wouldn't have to if you went on jobs that were fun," Marlow grumbled.

Noelle rolled her eyes and scooped the protesting cub up into her arms. She kissed him on his fluffy forehead while avoiding his attempts to claw her eyes out and placed him on top of her head. The little cub gave a huff before adjusting himself in her fluffy hair for better comfort.

Noelle smiled and got back to work. It was only a few minutes later when chaos broke loose. She looked up just in time to see Natsu getting into a fight with Krov. Noelle sighed quietly as a massive fight broke out. There were bodies and furniture being thrown all over the damn place, knocking the dishes she had just started cleaning crashing into the floor.

Noelle grabbed a dustpan and broom nearby and hurried to sweep up the broken glass. She happened to catch sight of the blonde-haired girl standing all by her lonesome in the middle of the guild. Noelle worried if something was wrong with her. She was just standing there with her mouth open and Noelle was worried a bug would fly into her mouth if she didn't close it. It almost seemed as if she had been petrified by sheer wonder. Noelle was honestly amazed to see that she hadn't run out of the guild in fear yet.

A fan, by chance? They got quite of a few of the star-struck stragglers wandering in now and again.

"Natsu's back, huh?!" Gray shouted.

"Uh-oh. Here comes trouble." Nicholai chuckled. "Gray, when did you get back?"

"Not long before you and Natsu set off," Gray said winding up his arm. "Not now man. We'll talk after I kick Natsu's ass!"

"Sure, sure." Nicholai waved him off. "Have fun with that."

"It's not a real fight if you don't draw blood!" Marlow yelled excitedly jumping from Noelle's head.

Noelle sighed.

"Gray! Your clothes." The resident drunk - _Cana_ \- yelled in a drunken slur.

Noelle shooked her head. Where the hell had his clothes gotten to this time? She had never met anyone in her life before incapable of keeping their clothes on while completely sober. It was such a simple task, and yet, Fullbuster managed to lose everything but his underwear and that was _only_ if they were lucky.

"SHIT!" Gray yelled but didn't bother looking for his clothes. _Go figure._

"You men are all the same." Cana scoffed. "That's why I don't date any of you losers."

Noelle turned her shoulder to the chaos and groaned. It would take forever to clean the mess they were making up. Oh well, it couldn't be helped, she supposed. Rowdy as they were there was no other guild she'd rather be a part of. Noelle smiled softly dumping a dustpan full of trash in the bin and returning to the bar. She slid a mug of ale towards Cana who merely waved it away.

Noelle blinked.

Cana turning away booze? Oh, she _must_ be mad.

"You guys are too damn loud! How's a girl to drink in peace?" Cana said, pulling out a glowing card. "I suggest that you all knock it the hell off." She turned to Noelle and threw a wink. "Right, Little White?"

"Thought I told you not to call me that." Noelle blushed.

The resident drunk had taken to calling her that ever since she joined. She didn't mind the name, really, but if she said that out loud than Cana would never let her hear the end of it. Cana had been one of the first people to welcome Noelle to the guild when she joined. Back when she was a sweet little girl who wouldn't dare touch a drop of alcohol. Noelle had been shy when joining the guild, but Cana had eagerly taken her under her wing like an older sibling would do.

"You know you like it," Cana smirked, twirling her card. "Now, are you in, or what?"

"I'll sit this one out." Noelle snorted. "I'd rather sit back and watch the disaster to come."

She looked around as all her guildmates rallied their magic with a small shake of her head.

"I've had it!" Gray yelled. He got into an odd stance with a serious expression.

Elfman's arm turned to stone as he let out a beastly yell.

Loke twisted a ring on his finger looking confident as ever.

And then there was Natsu, shooting fire from his fist, and laughing maniacally. A stray fireball came hurling towards Noelle who yelped, holding up a platter as a makeshift shield - there was no need, as Nicholai intercepted the attack before it even came near her. She stared at the shield of thick, black ice and sighed, hand over her heart.

"Thanks, Nich."

"Don't mention it." Nicholai glared at the pinkette. "Hey, firegut, watch where you're aiming! You almost hit Noelle!" Nicholai yelled standing from his stool to confront the overzealous slayer.

Noelle sighed. Great, Nicholai was worked up now. He was way too protective over her.

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?!" Natsu roared in a challenge.

Nicholai huffed, holding an open palm out. An obsidian magic circle appeared before him, frosting over with ice colder than his glare.

"Are you challenging me, lizard brain?" Nicholai smirked.

"Kill him, Nicholai!" Marlow roared from the crowd of bodies.

Noelle watched him bite into Krov's ankle who let out a girlish shriek. He tried to shake the rabid cub off of him but the more he struggled the harder Marlow latched onto him. Noelle thought about pulling him away, but the last time she had tried she had nearly lost a finger, and she didn't want to go through that again so she quietly went back to cleaning. It felt as if the guild was going to come down when she felt a violent shudder. It was then, that heavy footsteps rocked the guild, and a large shadow loomed over every mage within.

Noelle gulped and sneakily turned back to the bar pretending to be working while everyone froze in fear.

_**CUT IT OUT, YOU FOOLS!"**_

Everyone froze. No one dared to cross the Master of the Fairy Tail guild.

The blonde-haired girl was terrified and left shaking in her boots. Noelle quietly laughed, knowing quite the surprise she was in for.

"Oh, hello Master." Mirajane greeted, pleasantly as ever.

"HAHAHA! YOU ALL GOT SCARED! THAT MEANS I WI-"

Natsu was cut off by being crushed beneath the Master's boot. Noelle chuckled, wiping down the bar.

"A guest?" The Master addressed the blonde, shrinking back down to his original size of a tiny, old man. The Master jumped up high so that he was looking down at everyone in the guild. He held up a thick stack of papers for all of them to see, a frown on his face. "You've gone and done it again, you fools! Look at all this paperwork I received from the Magic Council. They're all complaints!"

Noelle couldn't help but snort. What else was new? This guild was home to destruction and trouble.

"Gray! Good job on sweeping out that smuggling organization, but you walked around naked in town afterward and ran away after stealing underwear that was being dried!" The guild master frowned.

"It would have been worse if I were naked, right?" Gray asked not seeing the big deal.

"Then don't be naked in the first place," Elfman told him.

Noelle laughed loudly and fist-bumped Gray. Despite all their bickering, the two got along well.

"Elfman! You had a mission to escort a VIP, but assaulted him during the mission."

"He said 'Men are all about education,' so..."Elfman looked ashamed.

The Master sighed. Noelle felt pity for him.

"Cana Alberona! You guzzled down fifteen barrels of beer, and charged it to the council!"

"They found out about that?" Cana gulped.

"Loke, flirting with Elder Reiji's grandaughter. A certain talent agency charged us for damage compensation, too."

The Master paused before addressing the next person on his list.

"Noelle and Nicholai Yuletide!" The Master shouted.

_Mother above._

Noelle paled as the dirtied cloth fell from her clammy hands and Nicholai averted his gaze, hands shoved deep down into his pockets.

She knew, by that tone, that they were in some deep shit.

"On your last mission, the two of you ended up causing massive damage to the city you were _supposed _to be protecting! The bill we received from them is going to take _years_ to pay off!" Makarov roared. "Don't think I don't see you over there hiding behind Gray, Noelle!" Makarov barked. "Nicholai, look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you, boy!"

Noelle who in fact, had quickly taken to hide behind the ice mage, squeaked and only stepped further behind the ice mage. Nicholai nervously locked eyes with the Master, sweating bullets while trying to play cool.

"Not only did you cause massive damage to the city, but you completely dismantled the Mayor's house, and then viciously assaulted him!" Makarov grumbled at them.

Noelle angrily puffed her cheeks out. It was both comical and adorable, thought a certain ice mage, who then denied said thoughts.

"Served that pervert right!" Nicholai scowled. "He was being a total creep to Noelle."

"In Nicholai's defense, he did warn him that if he didn't keep his grubby hands to himself that he would break his wrist," Noelle said. "We tried to warn him!"

The Master eyed the two of them with a heavy sigh.

"Then you should have come to me, child and I would have dealt with it." He frowned. "While I understand your frustration you've gone and caused the guild unnecessary trouble." The Master sighed and moved on.

The twins slumped their shoulders, faces heavy with defeat. Noelle guessed that the Master did have a point, but given the chance to do it all over again...well, she couldn't say the outcome would be any different.

"Natsu..." He spoke lowly. "You destroyed the Devon thief family, but also destroyed seven other houses that belonged to the townspeople. Not to mention you leveled a historic clock tower in Tully Village, burned down a church in Freesia, damaging parts of Lupinus Castle, Nazuna Ravine Observatory collapsed and thus stopped its operations, and you destroyed half of Hargeon's port!"

Nicholai whistled. That was a lot of damage, even for Natsu.

Master continued to scold almost everyone in the guild for their recklessness leaving the shame to heavily sit in the air.

Noelle was even feeling sorry for not being more responsible.

"However...the Council is just a piece of shit!" Makarov declared, burning the complaints to a crisp, and feeding them to an eager Natsu. "Listen up! The power to overcome reason is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle." Makarov said. "When the "spirits flow within us" and the "spirits" flow in nature connect, they will form an embodiment for the first time. It requires will-power and concentration. I mean, pouring all of your soul into whatever you do is magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher-ups, your magic won't improve. Do not fear the fools of the Council. Follow the path that you believe in, that's the way of the Fairy Tail mages!"

The guild erupted into cheers, and the guild symbol was thrown into the air all around; the pointer finger and thumb.

Noelle and Nicholai shared a look as they proudly thrust their hands into the air. No matter how crazy the guild got, or how many near-death experiences she experienced at the hand of Natsu, they loved this guild with all their heart.

They took them in when the had lost everything, and it is something they will always be grateful for.

* * *

**EndNote:** Not that long of a chapter but enough to ease you back into the story a little. As you can tell there have been some very obvious changes to the characters and story. Like I said before Noelle is no longer a dragon slayer, and her appearance has been updated to one that I am more happy with now. Marlow is no longer an Exceed but is now something akin to a polar bear cub that you'll learn more about later. I honestly thought of changing his name since Marlow has to do with water...but I'm too attached at this point. I went back and made Noelle and Nicholai twins and decided to have him a part of the story from the beginning and changed their story a lot. You'll know more of the Yuletide twins as the story progresses.

I had a really hard time deciding on Noelle's clothing choices and decided to go with sort of a lolita theme, which I think was her theme is the first-ever version of her story, only it's modified to be more winter-themed and yada, yada, you get the point.

I didn't think I'd ever be coming back to this story but here we are!


	2. Update: Lost Everything

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, uh a little update here...my computer died and had to be repaired, but not without cost because I lost everything. Year's and year's of work gone. I'm so depressed but there's nothing that can be done. I'm so heartbroken because I had so many important things on there.

I goes without saying that I'm going to have to start from scratch with my stories. Everything I had saved about my characters is gone.

I'm trying to find some kind of positive but I honestly want to cry lmao.


End file.
